BarCap stumped in Indian adventure

The sub-continent's convertibles, heralded by the UK bank as a growth market, could be its undoing

By

Harry Wilson

February 6, 2006 5:00 pm GMT

"Hitting new boundaries" read the headline on the cricket-themed front cover of Barclays Capital's 63-page report on the Indian convertible market, published in September. But judging by last month's market response to the bank's $725m (€602m) convertible for metals and mining company Vedanta, it has been dismissed for a single figure rather than scoring a century.

The Vedanta convertible should have been a triumph for the UK bank. The bond is the largest convertible issued by an Indian company and the biggest sole...